The problem of the occult is becoming, and is predicted (by
psychiatrists, pastoral counsellors, theologians, and observers
of the youth culture) to be one of the most important and
critical mental health, spiritual, and social problems of our
day.

Oberservations from various noted authorities and leaders
confirm this:

Observations from Mental Health
& Medical Professionals

Alfred Lechler, MD a noted German physician and
psychiatrist with vast experience in working with patients
victimized by the occult, observed:

People are today recognizing more and
more that the demonic is by no means just some outdated
biblical conceptů (but is) rather a terrible reality
with which one must ever increasingly reckon today."

...we are duty bound, when dealing
with the mentally and emotionally disturbed, to stress
the need to differentiate between disease and the
demonic.

Two Physicians: quoted by Dr. Kurt Koch in his book,
Occult Bondage and Deliverance:

A Neurologist:
“...Sixty-percent
of the inmates of my psychiatric clinic are not so
much suffering from mental illness as from occult
subjection or even demonization.”

An English Psychiatrist:
“If I were able
to obtain forgiveness for the sins of the patients in
my clinic, I would be able to discharge half of
them tomorrow.”

Observations from Protestant Leaders

The Reverend Mark Bubeck, of the International Center for
Biblical Counseling, former Pastor of Central Baptist Church
in Sioux City, Iowa, recognized national authority on the
occult, and author of the best-selling book,
The Adversary, writes:

The revival of interest in occultism
is much more ominous than just another passing fad.
Everything from skyrocketing sales of Ouija Boards
to the open worship of Satan give evidence of (its)
increasing interest...

Jerry Johnston, youth evangelist and author of the study and
examination of occultism in the U.S., The Edge of Evil,
writes that the occult is a ...

...fast-growing developing subculture
in the teenage community...

Dr. Kurt Koch, noted German theologian and one of the
most experienced Deliverance counselors in the world (over
20,000 cases), observed in his book Occult Bondage and
Deliverance:

There are metaphysical and
metarational facts, which, although experienced
by man, cannot be explained satisfactorily by him."

Observations from Catholic Leaders

Pope Paul VI in his Deliver Us From Evil,
asks:

What are the greatest needs of the
Church today? Do not let our answer surprise you as
being over-simple or even superstitious and unreal:
one of the greatest needs is defense from evil
which is the devil.

...This question of the Devil and the
influence he can exert on whole societies or events, is
a very important chapter of Catholic doctrine...

All of this, like waves of an ocean,
envelopes and agitates the Church itself. Men committed
to the Church are greatly influenced by the climate of
the world; so much so that a danger bordering almost on
vertiginous confusion and bewilderment can shake the
Church's very foundations and lead mankind to embrace
most bizarre ways of thinking, as though the church
should disavow herself and take up the very latest and
untried ways of life.

Michael H. Brown in his Prayer of the Warrior
warned:

We're in the midst of a war. It's not a
political or cultural battle — though politics and
culture are involved — nor is it a philosophical
dispute. We humans, all of us, across the planet, are
in the midst of a spiritual war. It is a war that has
been brewing all our lives, in every nation, in every
aspect of our lives, a battle between light and dark...
Right now it seems the dark is winning.

The war is waged on a supernatural stage,
in the deepest recesses of our beings, and will overwhelm
us if we don't do something about it.

Pope Pius XII also warned:

It seems darkness is about to fall on
the world. Humanity is in the grip of a supreme
crisis.

Father Mitch Pacwa, S.J. in his important book,
Catholics and the New Age remarks:

Because of the growth of the New Age
Movement outside the church and within it, Catholics
have some basic choices to make. We can bemoan the
problem helplessly and await the Second Coming of
Jesus as the only possible solution. Or we can respond
to the New Age Movement with fire, vigor, and
creativity.

Very Reverend Andrea Gemma, bishop of Isernia-Venafro,
in a directive to his priests, wrote:

Believe me when I tell you that Satan's
nefarious and dark activity — as Pope Paul II calls
it — is more widespread and deadly than we think. The
skeptical sarcasm of worldly pseudoexperts, and sometimes
even Christians and teachers of religion, is the fruit of
disinformation and, therefore, of superficiality. This
skepticism is itself one of the main components of the
victory that the evil one wants to win, under the cover of
silence. I ask you, who are the pastors of the people of
God, not to treat this subject lightly. It would be a
culpable omission and a scandal if you did.

Pope Paul VI on June 29, 1972 warned:

From some crevice, the smoke of Satan
has entered the temple of God

Pope Paul VI explained further in a later papal audience
on November 15, 1972, including these stern warnings:

... we must fight against the demon.
We do not think about this reality anymore, but now I
wish to draw your attention to this terrible and
unavoidable subject. We must fight against this enemy,
terrible and invisible, who sets snares for our life
and against whom we must defend ourselves... Anyone who
refuses to acknowledge the existence of this terrible
reality departs from the truth of biblical and
ecclesiastical teaching. We must realize that we are
confronting a reality what is mysterious and scary."

Pope John Paul II speaking in September 1976, then Karol
Cardinal Wojtyla, said:

We are now standing in the face of
the greatest historical confrontation humanity has
gone through. I do not think the wide circles of the
American society, or wide circles of the Christian
community, realize this fully. We are now facing the
final confrontation between the Church and the
anti-Church, of the Gospel versus the anti-Gospel.
This confrontation lies within the plans of divine
Providence; it is a trial which the whole Church must
take up.

It is a trial of not only our nations
and the Church, but in a sense, a test of 2,000 years of
culture and Christian civilization with all of its
consequences for human dignity, individual rights, human
rights and the rights of nations.

Father Gabriele Amorth, the official exorcist for the
Diocese of Rome, explains in his book, An Exorcist Tells
His Story:

While this pastoral ministry
(of exorcism) is entirely overlooked in the Catholic
world today, it was not so in the past. In some
denominations of the Protestant church, exorcisms are
still practiced frequently and fruitfully. Each cathedral
should have an exorcist, just as it has a
“penitentiary”. Where there is a greater
need — such as in large parishes and in
sanctuaries — there should also be a greater
number of exorcists.

Father Amorth, speaking on “who” can
expel demons, states:

...Jesus gave the power to expel
demons to all those who believe in him and act in his
name. I am referring to private prayer, which we can
collectively call “deliverance prayers”.

Exorcist receive an additional,
particular power. I am speaking of those priests
who are specifically assigned by their bishop. Using
the formulas and prayers suggested by the Ritual,
these priests adminster a sacramental that, unlike
private prayer, involves the intercession of the
Church.

St. Louis de Montfort provides us with our marching
orders:

Mary will raise up apostles of the
latter times to make war against the evil one. . . . But
the power of Mary over all the devils will especially shine
forth in the latter times, when Satan will lay his snares
against her heel: that is to say, her humble slaves and
poor children, whom she will raise up to make war against
him. They shall be little and poor in the world's esteem,
and abased before all like the heel, trodden underfoot
and persecuted as the heel is by other members of the body.
But in return for this they shall be rich in the grace of
God, which Mary shall distribute to them abundantly. They
shall be great and exalted before God in sanctity. Superior
to all creatures by their lively zeal, and so well
sustained with God's assistance that, with the humility
of their heel, in union with Mary, they shall crush the
head of the devil and cause Jesus Christ to
triumph.

We, at the LSM, take heed of these warnings and observations,
and accept our duty to participate in the battle over souls
while at the same time knowing that Christ has already won the
war. We accept the calling of of St. Louis de Montfort to take
up cause, by the power of Mary to aid her in crushing the head
of the devil and to bring about his final end, as she raises us
up as...